Frankly, don't pay too much attention to the absolute ranking or even slight movement. Take advantage of BW's rich, informative database and fantastic resources for applicants. Then choose what's important to you and do your own ranking.

BW bases its rankings on employer and student surveys as well as school research output or "intellectual captial." This year for the first time, in a nod to the economic crisis, it is also including a ranking based on ROI and years to recoup the MBA investment. Not surprisingly, European schools, which tend to be one-year programs, are at the top of the chart. More surprising: HBS ranks 50 out of 50 in this chart. I guess assumptions matter.

November 06, 2008

The University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business announced today receipt of a gift valued at $300 million from alumnus David Booth '71. In appreciation, the university will rename the school The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

"The school plans to use the money for several new initiatives, including aggressively attracting and retaining star faculty. Other uses being considered include developing new faculty groups in academic areas not normally associated with business schools, expanding existing research centers, and launching ambitious programs to better leverage the school’s intellectual capital.

"The gift may also be used to expand the school’s international presence beyond its existing campuses in London and Singapore."

Previously, the largest gift to a business schools was $105 million, given to Stanford GSB by Philip H. Knight in 2006.

With layoffs on Wall Street and a contracting economy, MBA classes of 2009 are facing a very difficult hiring climate. Although many investment banks and other financial institutions are still recruiting, the number of financial institution has declined and some banks are only recruiting half the number of students they recruited last year. Students, recruiters, and school administrators alike have expressed concern regarding the tight job market.

“If I was a second-year student I wouldn't be too optimistic," said Dan Waters, who was recruiting at a job fair at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Kellogg Assistant Dean Roxanne Hori said, "It certainly favors the companies to be more selective, which they're going to be in this environment because everybody's being more conservative in their hiring targets."

Despite Wall Street’s predicted loss of 45,000 jobs, Chicago Graduate School of Business Assistant Dean, Stacey Kole still expressed some reserved optimism, "We’ve seen firms go away and the level of M & A activity is down. But there is still a lot of demand for these folks." Some Business School graduates have already accepted offers, while others have been told that they must postpone their start at work. Still others face fierce competition from both their peers and from those who graduated a few years ago and find themselves back on the job market due to layoffs.

First year student, Ngaio Palmer, summed up the situation, "Most will have a job offer by the time they graduate, but it may not be their preferred company and it may not be their preferred location. But at this point, beggars can't be choosers."

We just posted the transcript from last week's two chats. First the MIT Sloan chat with Angel Navedo and Barry Reckley, both Assistant Directors of MBA Admissions at Sloan. An excerpt:

DAV (Oct 23, 2008 12:13:28 PM)Barry: How stringently do you hold to the criteria that experiences discussed in essays need to fit within the last three years (for example, a 4-year project that only has its last year fit within the 3-year window)?

Sean Mahoney (Oct 23, 2008 12:13:39 PM)Hi, Angel. We met at an information session MIT had last month. Thank you for that. I was hoping to get some more information about the guaranteed loan Citi gives all students. How much is the loan for (tuition only/ board/food/mortgage etc.)? Also, do these loans get used for the trips MIT alumni have told us they took during the program?

AngelNavedoMIT (Oct 23, 2008 12:16:03 PM)Hello Sean. I hope the presentation was helpful. Regarding the Citibank loan, we will no longer be offering that loan next year. As I wrote earlier, US students have plenty of excellent options and we are working hard to find suitable options for our international students.

Linda Abraham (Oct 23, 2008 12:17:20 PM)Angel, is MIT Sloan able to expand its number of grants for students having trouble obtaining loans?

AngelNavedoMIT (Oct 23, 2008 12:19:18 PM)Hi Linda! This past year we doubled the number of fellowships available to incoming students, so there will definitely be more money available in terms of fellowships than in the past.

We have also posted the recent October 23 Consortium chat with Jackie Olden of the Consortium and representatives from Marshall, CMU Tepper, U of Wisconsin at Madison, Emory, Simon, McCombs, Darden, Yale SOM, and NYU Ster. An excerpt:

Linda Abraham (Oct 23, 2008 7:06:26 PM)Is the absence of the CitiAssist program and the overall tightening of credit affecting your schools and applicants? What should applicants be doing now to prepare themselves to apply this year?

LinwoodHarrisCMU (Oct 23, 2008 7:07:51 PM)No! Several are concerned, but I don't think it is affecting us.

ErinNickelsburgWISCONSIN (Oct 23, 2008 7:07:59 PM)In regards to tightening of credit - it is not affecting our applicants and we don't anticipate that it will.

JosuePortilloNYU (Oct 23, 2008 7:08:18 PM)Linda, CitiAssist loans are still coming in with no problems at NYU.

The Consultant's Guide to MBA Admission -- updated for the 2009 application season and with a complete set of sample HBS essays for this year's application -- is now 20% off. But just until Friday Oct. 31.

Now is the perfect time to start your Round 2 applications. Now, when those deadlines are two months -- not two weeks -- away you have the time to work methodically through several applications and improve them as you go. And we are going to help you get started. Save $100 off any MBA admissions order of US$2000 or more. Enter "SAVE100" at checkout to receive the discount.

The announcement from Yale President Richard C. Levin makes it quite clear that Podolny's decision came as an unwelcome surprise. Dean Podolny is credited with being the moving force behind Yale's innovative and much praised curriculum, dramatically increased fund-raising, and improved faculty recruiting.

October 20, 2008

On Thursday October 23 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT Accepted.com will host anonline chat for MIT Sloan's. The last chat was "standing room only" and highly informative. Although we covered a lot of ground, some of you didn't get your questions answered. This is another opportunity for you to ask those nagging questions and learn more about MIT Sloan. And it's less than one week prior to Sloan's first deadline on Oct. 28.

On Thursday October 23, 2008 at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET/12:00 AM GMT, Accepted.com will host an online chat for those interested in applying through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Jackie Olden, the Consortium's Director of Recruiting, and representatives of different Consortium schools will be available to answer your questions about researching schools, early preparation, and the steps you should be taking at this point in the application process.

The media has been falling over itself to publish articles on the surge in applications due to the economic storm (hurricane?) that we find ourselves in, as well as the melt-down's impact on current students and soon-to-be graduates. Here are a few:

Hi Mae: This years audio question is a really interesting addition. However, the questions seem to be focused around our opinions rather than experiences - is that a valid statement, or would you like us to draw more from our personal/professional experiences?

Hello Hrishika, we have no expectations regarding content for the audio clip. We selected topics we thought would be easily answered in a one minute time frame.

Apaar (Oct 6, 2008 12:23:41 PM)Hi Mae! Will responding to essay 4 in audio format be more useful than replying in a text format?

MaeShoresANDERSON (Oct 6, 2008 12:25:23 PM)Apaar - we have no preference for the audio clip vs. text. Respond as you prefer.

The 2009 MIT Sloan Chat with Jennifer Burke Barba and current Sloan students is now online. This was an extremely active chat, and we simply couldn't answer all the questions. Consequently, we will host another MIT Sloan chat on Oct. 23. An excerpt from last week's chat:

Badger(Oct 7, 2008 12:25:58 PM)

Jen, a follow-up on work experience. I've been in the workforce for 12 years - I realize that this is atypical of prospective full-time MBA students; my question is how atypical is this at Sloan?

Hi Badger, we have students with all types of backgrounds and varied amounts of experience. Currently there are students in the class with 0-15 years of experience. However, we're much more interested in the quality of your experiences than the brand name of the company you're working for or how long you've been there.

Hi Shauna, is there any differences for applicants who have not joined the info sessions or campus visits?

HJ, the more you know about the program, the better you can determine if the fit between you and the MIT Sloan community is a good one. MIT Sloan is a unique community- a small class size- approximately 340 in our entering class and students who are intellectually strong and "doers." I think it makes sense to step foot on campus and also to interact with current students/alumni if this is possible. That said, many students apply and THEN come to visit - the choice is yours.

Jen: the MIT website says that you accept GRE scores in place of GMAT. Are the students submitting GRE scores at a disadvantage as compared to people submitting a GMAT score? What is the average GRE score expected?

Tria, we take either test score. No disadvantage if you use the GRE!

BusinessWeek published "Clearing up an Application Blemish." And we're not talking about acne -- more like DUIs, academic discipline, and misdemeanors. I am quoted extensively in the article. The key passage: "'Our advice is, always deal with it forthrightly, succinctly, take responsibility, and move on,' Abraham said. 'What is more difficult to deal with is academic discipline, especially if cheating is involved.'" I would like to add to this quote that if you can mention lessons learned or a time when you faced a similar challenge and handled it responsibly and without succumbing to temptation, you will strengthen your handling to of the blemish. Almost like face wash.

At many of our chats, more and more schools discuss cancellation of the CitiAssist loan program, which had provided no co-signor loans to international students at US b-schools. This topic came up in both the MIT and Cornell chats. Both schools reluctantly acknowledged that program's demise and an inability to offer no-cosignor loans to international applicants. Clear Admit has a good summary of the situation. The availability of financial aid is clearly in flux, and it is a topic we wlll address in all future chats.

The WSJ worked in conjunction with a research team to compile information from both employers and students regarding the schools’ abilities to develop managers and leaders. The WSJ Article, And the Best Execuitve MBA Programs in 2008 Are…reported that among the twenty-five schools that it ranked, two programs stood out: Kellogg and Wharton. Both schools received significantly higher marks than their competitors from companies, placing them in the first and second spots, respectively.

More interesting to me than the actual rankings or even WSJ’s reports on individual schools was WSJ's survey of EMBA students. A few highlights:

In choosing a school the top factor mentioned by students was the school’s reputation.

78% of students responded that they considered their school because of its distinguished faculty.

Approximately 34% of students said that they paid for their full tuition; 30% said that they received complete financial sponsorship from their companies; 13% said that their companies paid between 51% and 99% of the program cost.

Many students noted the rapid payoff of enrolling in an EMBA Program: 24% said that they were given both a raise and a promotion since starting classes and 26% expected such benefits upon graduation.

Both student and corporate surveys reflected the need for continued improvement in EMBA Programs, particularly in the areas of practical application, technology, flexible scheduling and academic work load.

This ranking also represents a change in WSJ methodology. For its MBA rankings, it previously surveyed recruiters only, arguing that they are the best judges of MBA educational quality. For this year's inaugural EMBA rankings, the WSJ, like BusinessWeek, which will publish its influential, bi-annual MBA rankings this month, sought the opinion of both students and employers.

September 24, 2008

Inside Higher Ed reports that according to a recent study by the Council of Graduate Schools, total graduate enrollment in the United States has increased by 3%. More interesting than the fairly typical across-the-board increase are the varying increases by demographic groups and field of study. Here are some highlights:

Health sciences saw the largest increase: 9%.

Education saw the second largest increase at 5%.

Humanities saw no changes in enrollment.

Business and Education both saw a 1% decrease.

Enrollments of non-U.S. citizens increased more that that of U.S. citizents (up 7% vs. up 3%).

Only time will tell how the current economic downturn will affect future enrollment changes. Based on previous downturns, enrollments may increase at even higher rates this upcoming year, as college graduates face tighter job markets.

September 18, 2008

A friend of ours is a financial adviser who likes to compare the gyrations of the stock market to a yo-yo being carried upstairs. My husband emailed him this morning and asked, "What happens if the guy carrying the yo-yo drops it?"

It's been a dizzying few days in the financial market. I have heard from several applicants who are concerned they may not have a job tomorrow. One applicant asked me, "Will losing my job hurt my chances of acceptance?"

If you lose your job at a company that is an obvious and very public victim of the current credit melt-down, it will not affect the admissions committees' evaluation of you and your credentials at all. They will not "hold you responsible," or think less of you. As I told the young woman I was speaking with, "Don't worry about it. You have bigger things to worry about."

Schools will look at how you respond to a layoff, especially if it becomes lengthy. If you quickly find another job, especially if it’s a position closer to your long-term goals or a promotion, it will help you. But if it takes a few months, adcoms will look at what you did when you didn't have to work. Did you acquire new skills? Did you volunteer more? Get involved in a favorite cause? The election? Devote more time to a hobby or sport? As usual your response to events will say more about you than the fact that something -- including a layoff -- happened.

There is one way that the financial turmoil will influence your chances whether employed or laid off, especially if you are in financial services and applying to schools that attract a lot of applicants from financial services: Competition will intensify and acceptance rates will decline.

Crains of NY reports today that unemployment in New York City surged in August (before the recent spate of dismal news) almost one full percentage point to 5.8%. The unemployment rate is still slightly below the national average, but the spike represents the sharpest monthly jump in New York City in at least three decades and is attributable partially to job loss in the financial sector. In fact "'...the continued financial sector turmoil guarantees that job losses on Wall Street will climb rapidly over the next few months,' said James Brown, a state Department of Labor economist."

So what can a hot-shot investment banker at Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch do? How can an AIG quant jock protect himself?

Have crystal clear goals. Present a compelling case for pursuing this degree at School X. You don't want to come across as merely one more refugee seeking shelter from the financial storm. Present yourself as a person with vision and goals who sees your target school as the best way for achieving them.

Spend a little more essay real estate on non-professional activities that reveal your ability to contribute uniquely to your class. Unless your work experience or career progression has been truly exceptional, this advice applies to anyone coming from financial services or a common professional group in the applicant pool.

Then you’ll be ready when the yo-yo resumes its climb up the staircase.